On Thursday, Intel and General Electric announced that they will spend $250 million over five years to develop new health care technology, such as health IT and home health care monitoring tools, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In recent years, Intel has emphasized technology that monitors sick or aging people at home and then transfers their information to physicians over the Internet.
The Journal reports that Intel's choice of GE is a "logical" move, noting that Intel needs a partner to break into the market further and that GE also will benefit from the partnership.
In a September meeting, GE Healthcare CEO John Dineen said that although IT represented less than 10% of its business, it would be major part of the company's future growth (Clark/Glader, Wall Street Journal, 4/2). Reuters/Boston Globe reports that GE's health care business represented $2.9 billion of the company's $17.4 billion in sales in 2008 (Reuters/Boston Globe, 4/1).
Marc Holland, research director at Health Industry Insights, said that President Obama and members of his administration have been pushing telemedicine, which puts Intel in "a very good position" (Wall Street Journal, 4/2).